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Rossi tops first Mugello practice

Valentino Rossi began his home grand prix weekend with the fastest time in Friday practice at Mugello

The Italian battled with his Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo throughout the hour, but was always able to respond to the Spaniard's challenges, ending up 0.4 seconds ahead with his time of 1m49.751s.

Loris Capirossi, who traditionally shines at Mugello, jumped to third late on, only to then crash his Suzuki moments later when he lost the front end at the first corner, San Donato. He was unhurt.

Casey Stoner crashed early on, running into the gravel and staying upright at first, before allowing the bike to fall to avoid hitting the barriers. Thereafter he only completed a series of short runs, popping in and out of the Ducati pit for adjustments, and ended up seventh.

To complete a good day for Yamaha, Tech 3 riders Colin Edwards and Ben Spies claimed fourth and sixth, split by Honda's Dani Pedrosa.

Andrea Dovizioso was eighth on the second Honda, followed by Ducati's Nicky Hayden and a strong performance from Hector Barbera on the Aspar Ducati.

Pos  Rider             Team               Time       Gap
 1.  Valentino Rossi   Yamaha             1m49.751s
 2.  Jorge Lorenzo     Yamaha             1m50.120s  + 0.369s
 3.  Loris Capirossi   Suzuki             1m50.359s  + 0.608s
 4.  Colin Edwards     Tech 3 Yamaha      1m50.772s  + 1.021s
 5.  Dani Pedrosa      Honda              1m50.773s  + 1.022s
 6.  Ben Spies         Tech 3 Yamaha      1m51.004s  + 1.253s
 7.  Casey Stoner      Ducati             1m51.128s  + 1.377s
 8.  Andrea Dovizioso  Honda              1m51.255s  + 1.504s
 9.  Nicky Hayden      Ducati             1m51.387s  + 1.636s
10.  Hector Barbera    Aspar Ducati       1m51.582s  + 1.831s
11.  Randy de Puniet   LCR Honda          1m51.605s  + 1.854s
12.  Marco Simoncelli  Gresini Honda      1m51.717s  + 1.966s
13.  Marco Melandri    Gresini Honda      1m51.782s  + 2.031s
14.  Aleix Espargaro   Pramac Ducati      1m52.202s  + 2.451s
15.  Hiroshi Aoyama    Interwetten Honda  1m52.399s  + 2.648s
16.  Mika Kallio       Pramac Ducati      1m52.418s  + 2.667s
17.  Alvaro Bautista   Suzuki             1m55.257s  + 5.506s

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